Career Guidance

Long story short, I have a B.A in Communication/Film and have had some success in Hollywood – internship at a well-known production company, some production work, and background work. But I haven’t been able to turn it into a career so far, and Hollywood’s shut down for a little while.

I’m 39F and am one of those “jack of all trades, master of none” people with experience in several fields. I’ve been able to pretty consistently find work in tech, and have had several tech jobs over the years. My best and most natural talent, though, is writing.

I was recently laid off from a remote tech job and I’m currently unemployed. Receiving CA unemployment, which should buy me a few months, especially with the extra stimulus payments. So I have some time to figure this out, and I’ll be going back to Memphis to stay with my folks in the meantime.

I’m having a hard time picking a direction. I need to make money – I’m $35,000 in debt and my credit is going into the toilet with my job loss. Should I stick to finding a communication/writing job, or should I use my time to develop some coding skills that will eventually lead to a higher paying dev job?

Writing comes much easier to me, and I would be a great editor or online content writer. I also have plans to write books, and want to write more scripts. I’d like to try and write in Hollywood one day, and this is a great time to get some samples under my belt. But I’m scared that it will be harder to find work and it will be more unstable than a tech job.

My current plan is to maybe live with my folks for a year, pay off as much debt as possible, figure out my career, and move into my own place either in Memphis or come back to CA. To be honest, I would enjoy learning to code on more of a hobby level, and I’m only thinking about it career-wise because of the money and stability. What would you do in my shoes? I could use some outsider observations/advice. I’ve had loads of people tell me I should be a writer and loads tell me I should work in tech, based on my skills. So 🤷‍♀️